How to be Assertive at Work - Tips for Administrative Assistants and Executive Assistants

Karen Porter, The Administrative Professional Job Performance and Career Success Coach™

and Founder and President

of The Effective Admin

"With almost 24 years experience interacting with the 'real' workplace and working administrative professionals -- including holding former admin pro level positions (and higher levels) myself at multiple different employers, -- I am well aware of the substantial job you and your administrative professional colleagues perform daily.

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Being assertive on the job can help you to manage your workload and improve your well-being. Many administrative support professionals are not naturally assertive because they're in a support role and instinctively want to please everyone. But being assertive is a good quality that helps you to maintain balance personally and professionally and still provide the service that others need. Here are expert tips on becoming assertive.

Assertiveness is a Learned Skill. Learn it!

By Karen Porter

The Administrative Professional
Job Performance and Career Success Coach
Assisting Administrative Support Professionals Since 2004

You weren't born assertive. That's a fact. But you can learn to be assertive. And you do need to learn how to be assertive to be effective on the job and successful in your career. Assertiveness is also a factor in self-empowerment. It's a way to go home from your job feeling good because not only did you do your best job, but you weren't somebody's doormat. Nor did you use anybody as a doormat. You left work with no bad feelings due to a poor communication interaction with a co-worker, client or boss. Nothing will gnaw at your gut after work or on the job tomorrow.

Why is learning to be assertive important for administrative professionals? It's like this, says speaker, trainer and consultant Annette Dubrouillet who specializes in the subject of assertiveness training and self empowerment (www.annette.biz):

"Administrative assistants really want to be helpful and that's good," says Dubrouillet who points out that's a primary characteristic of their job. "But sometimes they take that way to the extreme of thinking they have to say yes to everything. And that ends up the passive of not letting people know that boundaries have been crossed or needs are not being met."

Dubrouillet says administrative professionals sometimes think that they won't be viewed as a team member if they say anything but yes. "They haven't found that balance between making sure their needs are being met, making sure that they're not over-committing, and providing service to others," Dubrouillet says.

ARE YOU ASSERTIVE, PASSIVE OR AGGRESSIVE?
If you'd like to be more assertive, you need to first define what is and isn't assertiveness. Here is a bit of explanation from Dubrouillet along with more tips to master assertiveness as an administrative professional...

...This complete article is available in "The Gold" eBook in the VAAP membership packet available here.